SIR: It is good to see Belgarum, with Julia Sanderson's help, making information on the sarsens of Hampshire more widely known (Chronicle, August 6).

Sarsens despite their size and weight have tendency to go missing. In Twyford, for instance, the District Surveyor found one at a road junction, interfering with his line of sight, so he loaded it into his lorry and took it off to the depot. Local activists had to persuade him to put it back which, I am happy to say he did, and with good grace and there it is to this day.

The missing Shawford sarsen is, however, NOT missing. It is safe and sound in Twyford and always has been. Telford Varley's photo in the 1920's shows it in the same position that it is now , with the same iron railings behind it. It is in Berry Lane which leads past Twyford Church to the river, on the left hand side. It is about half buried by the silt washing down the lane which has covered its companion completely. Both sarsens were raised by a local group about 25 years ago as they were nearly buried then and it is time to do this again. The stones are not in their original position but were moved there, possibly from a line of them just below the church, just before the churchyard was extended in the 1850's.

As for the other sarsens of Twyford, which may or may not have been in a Stone circle (circa 2000 BC), 12 were found under the medieval Church tower when the church was demolished in 1876 and were reused as the foundation stones for the present tower, 15 feet down. Dr Gallup and the local surveys record another 23 scattered around the village, some in gardens, some in walls, some at road junctions, one as a mounting block outside the old forge in Queen Street, with the two largest of the group by the river.

Chris Corcoran,

Finches Lane,

Twyford